Mumbai: Wrong-side driving, cutting lane? You’ll be taken to court – Times of India

MUMBAI: Motorists caught driving on the wrong side of road, lane-cutting or overtaking may no longer get away with just paying a Rs 200 fine.
The Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, recently notified by the state government with a few tweaks, has made these offences non-compoundable, which means that the offenders will have to appear before court.

But law enforcement agencies are not too happy with this modification as it would increase their workload tremendously. “Sending an offender to court should be limited to serious offences such as drunk driving…We are in the process of proposing to the central government to let petty offences remain compoundable, which means the offender can pay the fine and settle the matter,” said an IPS officer.
A senior transport officer, however, said that taking offenders to court for these offences was necessary given the number of road crashes and complaints of wrong-side driving and lane-cutting.
But activists are concerned how this would work given that courts are already piled up with pending cases. “The problem of wrong-side driving has reached massive proportions in Mumbai and violent reprisals are common if a motorist tries to confront the offender. There is an urgent need to carry out enforcement drives and clamp down on offenders at well-identified locations, along with an additional force augmenting the traffic department,” said activist Naraayan Kannan.
Trupti Amritwar, CEO of non-profit Mumbai Environment and Social Network, said that lane-cutting was frequent on highways and expressways and often led to crashes. “It may be a stringent measure to send offenders to court, but will it really prove to be a deterrent? Hiking fines for lane-cutting and making offenders pay penalties on the spot would work better,” she added.
Lane-cutting is common on arterial roads like SV Road, LBS Marg and Western and Eastern express highways. Motorists complained that wrong-side driving has grown rampant under Lalbaug flyover, on JVLR after the Larsen & Toubro flyover, P D’Mello Road, Mankhurd, Govandi, Sakinaka and even on highways. More than 47,500 motorists were challaned for driving in the wrong direction between January and August, which is more than those challaned throughout 2020—around 31,000. But only 14% offenders paid up the fines this year.
Another significant modification in the Amendment Act is that minimum fine for most traffic offences has been hiked to Rs 500 from Rs 200 for a first-time offender and at least Rs 1,500 for a secondtime offender.